From Lake Placid, USA
Nov. 19, 2019 – Olympic 2-man bobsled champion Justin Kripps cruised to North American Cup victory in his second race of the season against a field of World Cup veterans.
Kripps and brakeman Cameron Stones were the quickest off the top in both heats, and kept that speed through every split to the bottom on their way to a .46 victory over 2015/2016 Crystal Globe winner Yunjong Won. Kripps has been fastest in three of his four heats so far this season in 2-man competition.
American Hunter Church edged teammate Geoff Gadbois for bronze by a tenth of a second, one day after Gadbois bettered Church for the final podium position. Canadian Taylor Austin finished fifth, while Chinese pilot Yijun Shao finished sixth.
Canadian Patrick Norton finished 15th, while teammate Jeff McKeen came into the second heat in 16th but crashed late in his run to score a DNF.
The race had seven World Cup veterans listed at the start of the race, with the likes of Rudy Rinaldi, Benjamin Maier, and Markus Treichl all taking times in Lake Placid. The venue will host the first two World Cup events of the season.
NAC Race 1 winner Codie Bascue was sitting seventh after the first heat, but suffered a hamstring injury (per a USABS release) on his initial push and sat out the second heat. There is no word yet on his availability for the remainder of the North American Cup events.
With the original USA bobsled team trials canceled due to track conditions in Park City, the opening North American Cup rounds are doubling as the USA team trials. Currently both Bascue and Church have team trials wins, with Gadbois finishing second in both events.
Results:
| Pos | Names | Nation | Bib | Start 1 | Start 2 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | Kripps / Stones | CAN | 7 | 5.16 | 5.20 | 55.92 | 56.25 | 1:52.17 |
| 2 | Won / Kim | KOR | 22 | 5.20 | 5.23 | 56.27 | 56.36 | 1:52.63 |
| 3 | Church / McConell | USA | 13 | 5.28 | 5.31 | 56.27 | 56.50 | 1:52.84 |
| 4 | Gadbois / Horn | USA | 8 | 5.26 | 5.25 | 56.21 | 56.72 | 1:52.93 |
| 5 | Austin / Kostelnik | CAN | 11 | 5.31 | 5.30 | 56.45 | 56.55 | 1:53.00 |
| 6 | Shao / Wu | CHN | 5 | 5.25 | 5.26 | 56.32 | 56.75 | 1:53.07 |
| 7 | Suk / Jang | KOR | 7 | 5.35 | 5.34 | 56.51 | 56.80 | 1:53.31 |
| 8 | Rinaldi / Riou | MON | 21 | 5.30 | 5.32 | 56.62 | 56.81 | 1:53.43 |
| 9 | Maier / Moldovan | AUT | 10 | 5.29 | 5.36 | 56.76 | 56.91 | 1:53.67 |
| 10 | Jin / Zhen | CHN | 12 | 5.34 | 5.33 | 56.76 | 56.96 | 1:53.72 |
| 11 | Sun / Wu | CHN | 14 | 5.21 | 5.20 | 56.76 | 57.21 | 1:53.97 |
| 12 | Treichl / Glaboniat | AUT | 1 | 5.45 | 5.41 | 57.13 | 57.38 | 1:54.51 |
| 13 | Bindilatti / Martins | BRA | 3 | 5.23 | 5.26 | 57.24 | 57.64 | 1:54.88 |
| 14 | Li / Ding | CHN | 15 | 5.30 | 5.28 | 57.27 | 57.62 | 1:54.89 |
| 15 | Norton / Evelyn | CAN | 16 | 5.34 | 5.36 | 58.00 | 57.90 | 1:55.90 |
| 16 | Ji / Shin | KOR | 17 | 5.38 | 5.44 | 58.30 | 58.10 | 1:56.40 |
| 17 | De Almeida Linhares / De Silva | BRA | 23 | 5.35 | 5.45 | 58.15 | 58.81 | 1:56.96 |
| 18 | Brown / Urbanski | GBR | 18 | 5.48 | 5.50 | 58.74 | 59.42 | 1:58.16 |
| 19 | Williams / Stanbridge | NZL | 19 | 5.62 | 58.86 | |||
| DNS | Bascue / Wilcox | USA | 9 | 5.20 | 56.51 | DNS | ||
| DNF | McKeen / Machibroda | CAN | 24 | 5.41 | 5.41 | 57.36 | DNF | |
| DNF | Nicholls / Avdeev | ISR | 20 | 6.68 | DNF | |||
| DNF | Stephens / Stewart | JAM | 24 | 5.53 | DNF | |||
| DNS | Vogt / Gyger | SUI | 4 | DNS |
